SHEPHERDING HELPS THE SHEPHERD

Darren Patrick, in an article, 5 Ways Shepherding Helps a Pastor Grow says that it helps you prepare for living when you .......

* deal with the sin of others, you become more aware of your own sin.
* shepherd the stubborn, you see your own stubbornness.
* shepherd the selfish, you see your own selfishness.
* shepherd the broken, you inevitably see your own brokenness.
* see others obey, you want to obey.
* see others use their gifts effectively, you want to use your gifts effectively.

The Holy Spirit reveals sin, empowers obedience, and imparts gifts. Both the Greek and Hebrew words for “spirit” mean “air” or “breath.” The English word “spirit” comes from the Latin spiritus, which also means “air” or “breath”. This is where we get words like respiratory (breathing) and expire (no more breathing). It is also where we get the word inspire. It’s as if when the Spirit is at work in those whom we counsel, we pastors are, by the same Spirit, inspired to repent, believe, and obey with the best gifts we have.

 For more on this topic go to RESURGENCE

SOME MEN SHOULD NOT RAP

Would your church freak out if this were you?

A DIVINE SLAP IN THE FACE

Perry Noble is the senior pastor of the New Spring Church in South Carolina. I came across his blog via Rick Warren. (Perry's blog is now on our blogroll).  I thought this post from today would be helpful and I would encourage you to check out his blog for more great articles by a local church pastor. - Steve

"To say that God “rocked my world” last week would be an understatement…it was more like a divine slap in the face and a sobering reminder that lost people really do matter to God!

Here’s the way it happened…

Charisse (my three year old daughter) and I went to get ice cream last Friday night.  (One of her favorite things to do!)  There is a place near our home called “Yogo Express” that has become one of her favorite places…you go in, get a cup, put the yogurt in it, THEN go to the toppings area and put your toppings on and then you pay…by the ounce.

When we walked in the place was slammed, there were people everywhere.  So…I held her hand and we walked together to the area where we got our yogurt cups…she wanted chocolate yogurt with mint chips for her topping, so, I put all of that in her cup and then got ready to get mine.

BUT…when I looked down to tell her that hers was ready…she was GONE!

GONE!!!

I looked around and didn’t see her anywhere.

She had been right by my side five seconds before that…

I panicked!

Seriously…the scenarios that can run through a parents mind in a short amount of time are unbelievable.
I began calling her name…and I literally was plowing over people…trying my best to control my heart as it was literally about to explode out of my chest.

Then, after only about seven seconds (seemed like an eternity though) I saw her…she had gone to get napkins for us but had not told me.

I scooped her up and hugged her…and I can’t explain to you the overwhelming joy that shot through my body as I knew that she was not lost!  (If you are a parent and this has happened to you…you know exactly what I’m talking about.)

I kept her close to me for the rest of the night…and when I put her down to bed I hugged her a little longer and and little tighter…I thought she was lost, gone…but she wasn’t, and for that I was (and AM) so thankful.
However, later on that evening I felt the Lord say to me, “Now you know how I feel about lost people.”

BAM!

Seriously, I have preached on the importance of evangelism for a long time.  In fact, one of our core values here at NewSpring Church is, “Found People Find People.”  However, I had NEVER viewed the importance of evangelism through the lenses of a father who is obsessed with the lost…not like that!!!

The feeling God allowed me to feel for seven seconds was one of the deepest, most intense feelings I’ve EVER felt…and because of that Luke 19:10 has taken on a whole new meaning!

God is PASSIONATE about reaching lost people…and HIS followers SHOULD BE AS WELL!

 Evangelism is not an option for those who say they are followers of Jesus…it is a COMMAND!  AND…read through Luke 15 and notice that in each of the three stories something is lost, what is lost is found…and because of the lost being found a party/celebration begins!!!

Lost people matter to God; therefore, they should matter to HIS church! 

One more thing…NewSpring Church, let’s keep doing this…let’s keep doing ALL WE CAN to reach out to people who are far from God!  Let’s share our faith with them…let’s get them to church THIS Sunday…and let’s continue to BEG God to give us a harvest of souls unlike the world has ever seen!!!

KEEPING PERSPECTIVE

A low attendance Sunday, a day when you are constantly interrupted by the trivial, a sleepless night, a negative church council meeting, a sermon that seems to have touched no one, an overscheduled day that leave you exhausted ..........

This are things that try a pastor's soul.  Tim Hansel once said, "The problem with life is that it is so daily."   And I might add, a pastor's life often includes one or more of the above list (or its kin) on almost a daily basis.

String enough of these together and a pastor begins to question his capability and doubt his call.  In fact, it seems ironic that it is often the accumulation of many small things over a long period of time that causes pastors to either resign themselves to a joyless ministry, or quit the ministry.

I have a friend who used to say he quit every Tuesday (Monday night was church meeting night) but managed to re-up in time to be in the pulpit on Sunday morning.  I know that in almost 40 years of ministry I have resigned mentally or in written draft many times.  Only once in the ministry have I resigned myself to resigning from the ministry (selling insurance if need be to support my family), and a very wise daughter told me, "You can't do that. You are a pastor."

She provided me some perspective that day that drew me back to my calling and gifting from God, reminding of the passions of my heart.  I will always be grateful for her helping me to rediscover some perspective in a dark and dismal time.

However, there is something far more important to which I need to anchor my life and the ministry God has given me.  It is the fact that God works.

Paul was no stranger to the burdens, the distractions, the defeats that often seemed to accompany ministry.  And he wrote these words--first to the Church of God at Rome, and then on to us, and I believe, in particular for those of us who have made vocation of serving the Lord as pastors in churches.

 ^"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28

God is at work in all things ... even distractions, troubling council meetings, sermons that seem a failure.
God is at work for the good ... God's kingdom purposes are at work in all of those things and He is ultimately the one who is responsible for the outcomes.
God is at work for those who love him ... the problems of ministry don't make you stop loving Jesus.        God is at work for those who are called according to his purposes...God called you. Your job is to be obedient and faithful. His job is to make you fruitful.

It always helps to keep perspective.

(C) 2010 by Stephen L Dunn

A BAD DAY AT GOLF IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT THE OFFICE

I am blessed with a pastoral partner in ministry. His name is Barry Sellers.  Barry is a second career pastor. Before joining me on the staff of the Church of God of Landisville, he spent 25 years teaching business and serving as the head of his department at an area high school.  His journey to ministry took form while he served as an elder at another congregation.  That journey brought him to serve with me.

Barry serves as Associate Pastor. In our church that means he fills many of the roles of traditional pastoring: visitation, teaching, counseling, leading worship, and at times preaching.  He spends a lot of time filling the role of shepherd, especially to the more senior members of our congregation.

Barry absolutely loves the pastoral ministry. Not only was he called to it out of the public schools but he was made for it.  When God put together his SHAPE (as Rick Warren calls it) that "shape" was spelled P-A-S-T--O-R.  The persons of my church, especially those raised in more traditional settings where they had a personal, intimate, daily relationship with their pastor find him a constant anchor and encouragement.  In doing his job, he frees me to do work of leading the church, being its chief preacher and vision-caster, guiding its evangelistic mission, coaching its leaders, spending serious time in prayer, helping the church impact its larger mission field.

Barry thrives as a pastor. The church thrives as well because of his work.

Barry and I share a common love of golf. The difference between the two of us is that he is good at it. I just play the game.  If our links prowess defined our roles - he would be the Lead Pastor (and I'd probably be his caddy.)  One Friday we were playing with several men from the church. I had just come back from Disney World and was wearing a hat that read "A Bad Day at Golf is Better Than a Good Day the Office." 

Spying my hat and its message, he said, "Not true.  Nothing is better than a good day the church."

Wow! Talk about a rebuke (although it wasn't intended as one).  My hat was just a piece of fun; but Barry didn't want it to belittle the truth.  He loved the pastoral ministry and he loved being a pastor.  He was in his sweet spot, the spot the Spirit had created him for. That didn't mean he was naive or insensitive to its burdens, its stresses, its hurts and failures.  But it did mean that none of that could separate him for the joy of knowing that he was doing what God had called him to do.

"Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel," declared Paul.  My life is out of God's will and my joy is gone if I abandon that to which Christ Jesus has called me.

My prayer each day is that I do not let my circumstances or my sheep take my eyes off of what God is calling me to do.